Caltech Human Resources is once again sponsoring the annual Adopt an Angel Program, which provides holiday gifts for children of poverty-level families in the San Gabriel Valley area. The Angel Program is affiliated with the Foothill Unity Center, a nonprofit organization that provides critical support in the form of food, clothing, motel vouchers, referrals, and advocacy for people in crisis who reside in the San Gabriel Valley area.

Starting November 2, 2018, the Human Resources Office, at 399 S. Holliston, will have the paper angels available for pick-up. The angel bears the name of a child, along with their special wish list, age, clothing size, and interests. Unwrapped gifts with the paper angel attached are to be delivered to the Human Resources office no later than Friday, November 30. The Foothill Unity Center distributes the gifts to the families on December 15, 2018.

Located on the lower level of The Athenaeum, the Rathskeller Bar and Game Room offers a casual setting for impromptu gatherings. With a large gastropub menu and a full bar, stop in and enjoy a beer and a friendly round of pool or darts.

Family Night Dinner and Movie is the official kick-off event for the United Way campaign and is open to all Caltech community and their families. This year's event will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, October 19.

Dinner will be served from 4:30p.m. to 5:45p.m. on Beckman Mall. Enjoy free food, face painting, and music before the movie. Be sure to stop by the TIAA tables to create a pencil packet that will be donated to the Pasadena Unified School District's Office of Families in Transition. No tickets are required for the dinner.

The Adaptive Charging Network (ACN) for electric vehicles at Caltech's California Parking Structure has been a research project in Professor Steven Low's Netlab. The project has been collecting anonymized statistics (such as arrival time, departure time, energy charged, charging rates, etc.) to help develop algorithms for adaptive scheduling, learning and analytics, and software to optimize the charging infrastructure. During this time, the cost of electricity and the construction of the charging infrastructure have been covered by the Netlab project as well as by a Caltech start-up, PowerFlex, for users to freely charge their EVs. The project is now transitioning to commercial operation with PowerFlex providing the EV charging service. Netlab will continue to have access to anonymized statistics for research purposes.

The commercial operation is expected to begin November 1, 2018. Thereafter, all charging dispensers in the California Parking Structure will turn on only via the PowerFlex mobile app. EV drivers can download the PowerFlex mobile app from the iOS or Android app store to create a personal account. The cost of charging is a flat rate of $0.12 per kWh and will be collected via the PowerFlex mobile app. This rate covers the cost of electricity only. Additional parking fees apply. All users are required to display a valid Caltech parking permit.

Between now and November 1, 2018, when commercial operation begins, the default session energy—the energy drivers receive by plugging in their car and walking away—will gradually decrease to encourage everyone to use the mobile app. Once the transition concludes, EV drivers need to deposit funds (minimum of $10) via credit card to pay for their charging sessions in the California Parking Structure.

In addition to gaining access to EV charging at Caltech, PowerFlex app users will also have access to many PowerFlex charging stations at JPL, in Pasadena, and throughout the state. For additional information, please contact PowerFlex at support@powerflex.com.

Caltech, like most universities and companies, is a frequent target of phishing attacks and fraud scams. The Institute has seen a significant rise in the number of attacks and scams in the past year.

These increasingly sophisticated scams include sending a fake email that appears to be coming from a person in authority, such as the President, Chief Financial Officer, or a manager or director. The email typically indicates an urgent need for the recipient to log in using a link provided in the message, and may require the user to provide other information, such as Social Security Number, home address, W-2 information from a payroll or human resources system, or other financial/private information.

Two such scams were successful at Caltech within the past month. Although we hear about these situations occurring daily in the news, it really hits home when it happens to our own Campus personnel. In one case, after gaining access to an employee's email, the attackers ultimately were able to modify that person's direct deposit banking information. In another, an employee was fraudulently convinced to buy gift cards on behalf of the scammers.

We all need to be more vigilant when we receive emails requesting that recipients click on a link and log in or provide financial or other personally identifiable information, even if the message appears to come from third-party vendors that do business with Caltech. Avoid using links that came via email, but where it's necessary, first mouse over the link, or press and hold on a mobile device, to see where the link will take you before clicking.

We should also be aware that reusing the same password for your work and various personal accounts can exacerbate problems when an account is hacked on one site, and then used to gain access to another. Best practices recommend always using unique, difficult to guess passwords for different accounts. A password management utility can be helpful for keeping track of multiple passwords.

IMSS offers consultation and training for Institute personnel and departments, providing awareness of scam and fraud techniques to watch out for, and offering tips for identifying suspicious emails related to phishing scams, schemes to commit identity theft, or other attempts to compromise computing equipment and personal information.

If you receive an email that you believe is suspicious in nature, DO NOT click any links in the email, and do not "unsubscribe" or acknowledge the email in any way. Instead, please contact IMSS immediately by calling the Help Desk at x3500, by opening a Help Desk ticket online, or by emailing Information Security directly, at security@caltech.edu to obtain guidance and assistance.

P-Card and Travel Services will hold its annual Travel Fair from 10:30AM to 1:30PM on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, located at Beckman Mall. This year's theme is "Life's A Beach." Come out and meet our preferred travel vendors. There will be music, delicious food for purchase, and drawings for great prizes (valid Caltech ID required to enter drawings). Come enjoy the fun and we hope to see you there!